Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Wednesday, February 1,
2006 (the same story variously titled "Tory government can't be trusted,
David Orchard says," published by papers across Canada, incl. Toronto
Star on-line January 31, 2006)Orchard lashes out at ConservativesCanadian Press

"Mr. MacKay blatantly broke a written
agreement with me, and the party seized $70,000 of my funds, and so I'm saying
they're in no position to be lecturing the rest of the political spectrum in
Canada about ethics." ... While the judge imposed a release on both parties
stating Orchard would not seek further litigation against the Conservatives
regarding the disputed funds, it does not prevent Orchard from making other
claims on other parties, such as MacKay.
continued...

Vancouver Sun and National Post, Wednesday,
February 1, 2006Orchard to get $77,000 from Conservatives

... At a court hearing in Toronto on Tuesday,
both sides agreed that Orchard – the Saskatchewan grain farmer, who ran against
Peter MacKay for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 2003 –
will receive about $77,000 from the party to recoup him for campaign donations
he collected during the leadership race. ...Outside the courtroom, which was
filled with his supporters, Orchard declined to say if he'll pursue a separate
lawsuit against MacKay over a deal that saw the farmer agree to support his
leadership rival in exchange for MacKay's word that he would not merge the
Tories with the Canadian Alliance.
continued...

While barnstorming the country, promising ethical and trustworthy
government, the Conservative party today again refused to pay former PC
leadership candidate David Orchard the money the party itself has
admitted, in writing, it owes him.

The outstanding debt, totaling over $70,000, consists of $55,000 of
citizens’ donations made to Orchard’s PC leadership campaign in 2003,
plus a $15, 000 refundable deposit paid when he entered the race in
January, 2003.

Following on the betrayal by Peter MacKay of his solemn, signed
promise to Orchard NOT to merge the party with the Canadian Alliance,
the new Conservative party adds insult to injury by continuing to
withhold campaign donations made to Mr. Orchard in 2003. They remain in
the coffers of the Conservative party, the party whose formation Orchard
opposed, as did most of his donors.

On January 31-February 1, 2006, a court date set today in Toronto,
the Conservative party will once again attempt to get a court order
forcing Orchard, before it returns his funds to him, to sign a release
worded to preclude Orchard from ever suing Peter MacKay for breaching
his signed agreement not to merge the two parties -- a different issue
entirely from the case of the seized funds.

"The new Conservatives, riding high on the rhetoric of 'honesty’ and
‘ethics,' are trying, by withholding my donations, to force me to give
up constitutional and legal rights guaranteed to every Canadian,"
Orchard commented after today’s case conference in Toronto.

Two and a half years after the Progressive
Conservative leadership race, the Conservative Party of Canada has yet to pay
David Orchard more than $70,000. About $55,000 of that is owed to the
Borden-area farmer from donations to his leadership campaign.
continued...

April 27, 2005ETHICS? WHAT ETHICS?
AN OPEN LETTER TO STEPHEN HARPER AND PETER MACKAYfrom Marjaleena Repo

Dear Sirs, You ceaselessly point your fingers
at the Liberal government members in the House of Commons and pontificate about
their ethical misdeeds, alleged and real. You demand that they come clean,
confess to their malfeasance and accept punishment, long before the Gomery
Commission is able to present its findings of fact and recommendations.

Now you want to force the whole country through an early and expensive
election because of the ethical failures of the Paul Martin government! But who
are you two to talk about ethics and "moral authority?" Are you not staring
yourself blind at the speck in the government's eye, while ignoring – and
hoping that no one else would notice either – the beam in your own?
continued

In the aftermath of the Conservative Party's
first convention, its leaders are making statements that cannot go unchallenged.
Stephen Harper announces boldly that his party is a "very inclusive, open
party," that there is room in his party for differing views, and that the party
has demonstrated "a high degree of tolerance of differences." ...

On his part, deputy leader Peter MacKay continues to falsify history. He
claims, with a straight face, that his infamous breech of the signed agreement
with David Orchard in the 2003 PC Party’s leadership convention, to abide by the
PC Party's constitution and not to merge with the Canadian Alliance, was
"democratic, involved, transparent and open," because he had consulted widely
and thoroughly with party members before he signed an agreement with Stephen
Harper to do the exact opposite, to merge the parties.
continued

David Orchard, the bilingual
fourth-generation Saskatchewan farmer who brought the second largest number of
delegates to the Progressive Conservative Party's 2003 leadership convention,
says the Conservative party is blackmailing him with $77,000 of his own money.
continued...

Denied a Conservative Party membership and refused entry as a
"member-observer" at the federal Conservatives' recent policy convention
in Montreal, David Orchard says he's still waiting for the party to hand
over more than $70,000, excluding another $10,000 in legal costs and
interest, he claims are owed to him as a result of his run for his
unsuccessful leadership run for the former federal Progressive
Conservative Party of Canada two years ago.
continued

The legal contract that David Orchard signed
with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (now Conservative Party) when
he entered the leadership race in January '03, included the proviso that all
campaign donations sent to the party headquarters for processing (to give donors
a tax credit receipt) would be returned to the candidate within 2 business days.
He was also guaranteed a return of his refundable deposit of $15,000, as long as
he fulfilled all his obligations, which he did before the end of 2003.

In December 2003, David Orchard Campaign submitted to the party over $50,000
in donations sent to him to help pay his campaign debts. This amount has never
been returned to him, and neither has his $15,000 deposit.
continued...

Former Tory leadership candidate David Orchard has filed another lawsuit
against the new Conservative Party for violating its own rules by holding on
to more than $70,000 of his money from the leadership campaign...
continued

Press release, Tuesday, February 24, 2004Ethics like charity begin at home, David Orchard tells the Conservative party of
Canada

Much is made by the new entity, the Conservative Party, of the lack of ethics
and trustworthiness of the Liberal government. Not a day goes by without a
Conservative Party representative, sometimes Peter MacKay himself, pronouncing
on the dishonesty of the Liberals and demanding accountability. "Where is the
money?" they call out, and "Give back the money," they demand...
continued... aussi
en francais

Globe and Mail, December 1, 2003Why we’re going to courtA small clique has hijacked our party and violated its constitution, say
long-time Toriesby David Orchard, Hanson Dowell, Oscar Johvicas, and John Perrin...Read the story

Wednesday, November 26, 2003Launch of the legal suit against the proposed merger

At a press conference held November 26, 2003 at the offices of Sack Goldblatt
Mitchell, David Orchard announced the official launch of the legal suit and
introduced key plaintiffs.

In this video, you will see the entire press conference, including the lively
and various comments of a range of supporters as well as a question period
towards the end. Those speaking include Sean Dewart, chief lawyer on the case,
who summarizes the crux of the legal argument; C. Hanson Dowell, chairman of the
PC Party Presidents Council of Nova Scotia and a life-long Tory; Oscar Johvicas,
immediate past president of the Beaches-East York federal PC Association and an
active party member since 65;. Jean Glover, supporter from Haldeman-Norfolk,
Ontario; Marie Gatley, great-grandniece of Sir John A. Macdonald; and
Arthur
Langford, supporter from Haldeman-Norfolk, Ontario.(47 minute streamed video)
Watch the conference...

his original convention agreement with Peter MacKay on May 31st: that there
would be no merger with the Canadian Alliance;

how Peter MacKay has, with no mandate from the PC membership, signed an
"Agreement-in-Principle" with Stephen Harper, proposing just such a merged
party;

how the proposed merger contradicts the expressed wishes of the PC membership,
as indicated by a vast majority of delegates at the past two PC conventions;

how the proposed merged party does not reflect the interests of the Canadian
public, and is likely to be far less successful at the polls than an invigorated
PC party dedicated to upholding its own time-honoured values.

Saskatchewan farmer David Orchard has struck a major blow against his Goliath, dodging a $200,000 lawsuit by the Conservative Party of Canada.

"It lifts a great weight off our shoulders, this threat of huge costs," said Orchard, the former Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful. "It's a significant victory for us. I can tell you our people all across the country are happy."
continued...
aussi en francaiscontinuez...

Following the December 5, 2003 ruling by Justice R. Juriansz in the legal challenge to the merger between the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party (Ahenakew et al vs MacKay), the new Conservative party filed a claim with the judge for a $200,000.00 cost award against David Orchard and the 22 other applicants ...
continued
aussi en francais continuez

Following the March 23, 2003 ruling by Justice Russell Juriansz, wherein the judge rejected the new Conservative party's claim for a $200,000.00 costs award against David Orchard and the 22 other applicants, the Progressive Conservative loyalists are set to take their case to keep the PC Party alive to the Ontario Court of Appeal.
continued

Appeal of December 5, 2003 ruling by Justice Juriansz in the Canadian Alliance - PC Party merger case.

Toronto Star, Wednesday, April 28, 2004 Fighting for her family - and her party
Creation of the new Tories a 'betrayal'
First PM's relative appealing mergerby Tracey Tyler

The cobblestone path to Ontario's highest court might cause lesser beings to falter, but Marie Gatley didn't miss a step. She may be 83, but she's just as steely in her determination to rescue one of Canada's founding political parties - and her family legacy...
continued

Globe and Mail, Monday, January 9, 2006Critic of Tory merger to take fight to top courtby Gloria Galloway

OTTAWA – A veteran of the former Progressive Conservative Party will
ask the Supreme Court to overturn a rejection of his bid to undo the
amalgamation that created the current Conservative Party.
continued

OTTAWA – A bid by a stalwart of the old Progressive Conservative
Party to undo the amalgamation that created the present-day
Conservatives has been rejected by the Federal Court of Appeal. ...Peter
Rosenthal, a lawyer for Mr. Stevens, said he is urging his client to
appeal the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.

... Sinclair Stevens, a 78-year-old former Conservative cabinet
minister, argued that electoral law requires Chief Electoral Officer
Jean Pierre Kingsley to have waited 30 days after party members approved
the joining of the Progressive Conservatives with the former Canadian
Alliance to register the new party. Mr. Kingsley acted just one day
after the delegates to a meeting of the Progressive Conservatives voted
more than 90 per cent in favour of the merger on Dec. 6, 2003.
continued

Vancouver Sun, November 23, 2004Legal challenge of Conservative party fails

OTTAWA -- A Federal Court judge has rebuffed a legal challenge by a group of
former Progressive Conservatives who said their party was illegally dissolved
during creation of the Conservative Party of Canada a year ago.

The court action, launched by former PC MP Sinclair Stevens -- a cabinet
minister in the Mulroney era -- was dismissed in a written judgment released
Monday. Justice Elizabeth Heneghan found Stevens was right in arguing that Chief
Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley erred in immediately recognizing the
merger of the PC party and the Canadian Alliance, but his actions did not merit
quashing the registration of the new party.

Globe and Mail, Monday, March 08, 2004Stevens asks to see file on Tory merger"The objective was to pre-empt a legal challenge, Marjaleena Repo, the Progressive Conservative Party's Saskatchewan vice-president [and David Orhcard's senior advisor], says in an affidavit." by Gay Abbate

Former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Sinclair Stevens will be in court today asking for all documentation from the federal chief electoral officer on why he approved the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives on a Sunday, depriving opponents of the chance to take legal steps to stop it...continued

ST. JOHN'S ­ St. John's West MP Loyola Hearn says he's baffled by the support
former Premier Brian Peckford is throwing behind a law suit that challenges the
validity of the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative
parties... continued

Press release, Thursday, May 6, 2004Formation of the Conservative Party of Canada to be Challenged in Federal Court
on May 11, 2004

An internal Elections Canada document reveals that, at a meeting on November
25th, 2003, the Chief Electoral Officer advised party representatives that he
was prepared to adopt flexible and responsive procedural processes to respond
effectively and efficiently to any application which might be submitted to his
office. The Applicant takes the position that the processes adopted contravened
the rights of the "PC Loyalists."
The full story...

Press Release, Friday, March 5, 2004Why did the Chief Electoral Officer create the Conservative Party of Canada on a
Sunday?

There will be a motion in Federal Court in Toronto on Monday, March 8th asking
the court to order the Chief Electoral Officer to provide more information from
his files concerning the creation of the Conservative Party of Canada.

The Chief Electoral Officer registered the Conservative Party of Canada as a
result of a purported merger between the Progressive Conservative Party and the
Canadian Alliance on Sunday, December 7th, 2003. One consequence of the
registration was to eliminate the Progressive Conservative Party.
The full
story...